The present invention relates generally to wall forms of the type comprising pairs of opposed form walls each formed of a plurality of stacked rows of plastic foam panels for receiving flowable materials such as concrete. More particularly, it relates to interlocking foam panels or blocks used to build those form walls.
A number of different systems and methods currently exist for making insulating forms for casting a concrete wall. Often, these systems comprise pairs of opposed foam panels generally made of rigid foam like polystyrene, which define concrete-receiving cavities therebetween. Those pairs of foam panels are placed one above the other so to form the wall form. Once the concrete is solidified, the form walls remain in place to insulate the wall. Those form walls are typically maintained in spaced and parallel relationship before the pouring of concrete by means of connectors comprising a pair of parallel lateral attachment flanges each embedded in one of the two opposed foam panels, and a connecting web interconnecting the flanges.
The piling up of such panels is performed on the site of construction. One object in this field is to obtain foam panels that would allow, on one hand, an easy and very rapid piling up without loosing time and, on the other hand, would allow construction of a stable and solid stacking that will not likely disassemble prior to the pouring of concrete. As can be easily understood, as soon as the concrete is poured, the chances that the stack collapses or disassembles is greatly reduced.
An example of a prior art attempt in this field is given in U.S. Pat. No. 5,428,933 which discloses an insulating construction panel having a top and a bottom edge each provided with interconnecting members consisting of at least two rows of alternating projections and recesses. The recesses of one row are adjacent to a projection of the other row, such as a checkerboard, whereby the insulation panel can be interconnected with a like member in a bi-directional or reversible manner. One drawback encounters with such panels is that the projections at the corners and along the edges tend to break easily. Furthermore, when such panel is not very thick, it easily tips over once stacked over a like panel. Other examples of insulating construction panel are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,895,469; 4,229,920; 4,704,429; 4,884,382; 4,885,888 and 4,894,969.
There is thus still presently a need for an improved insulating construction panel for building form walls.
An object of the present invention is to propose a stackable insulating foam panel that will satisfy the above-mentioned need, and more particularly to propose an improved stackable foam panel that allows the construction of a stable and solid stack.
In accordance with the present invention, that object is achieved with a stackable insulating foam panel having a top side and a bottom side each including a median row of alternating projections and recesses having a similar complementary shape, the median row being disposed between two coplanar edge surfaces. Each projection of the top side is opposed to a recess of the bottom side whereby the top side and/or the bottom side of the panel can be interconnected with either the top side or the bottom side of a like panel.
The present invention also concerns a wall form assembly comprising opposed foam panels, as described above, disposed in parallel relationship to make a wall form for receiving a flowable material such as concrete and a plurality of connectors for tying the opposed foam panels together. More particularly, the form wall assembly comprises:
a first and a second opposed foam panels in parallel relationship; and
a plurality of connectors hingely tying together the first and second foam panels, whereby the tied foam panels are movable between an extended position where the foam panels are spaced-apart to make the form and a collapsed position where the foam panels are brought close to each other.
As can be appreciated, the two coplanar edge surfaces of the foam panel act as shoulders or abutments for the edge surfaces of an interconnected like panel, and thus help to solidify or stabilise a stack built with foam panels according to the present invention.
Other features and objects of the present invention will become more apparent from the description that follows of a preferred embodiment, having reference to the appended drawings and given as examples only as to how the invention may be put into practice.